Sunday, July 24, 2011

Reluctant Vegetarianism.

The main problem with being a vegetarian is the "no meat" part of it. Not that I'm a vegetarian. It's not because I'm a vege-phobe either; I love vegetables. It's just that I've never had a meal that couldn't be improved by bacon.

I think I ought to give it a try though. It's been brought to my attention that I may not be the healthiest of individuals; mostly because my body appears to be backfiring and perhaps trying to kill me.

While I'm trying to sort out my head and figure out ways to deal with stress that don't involve hiding under the bed, it might be a good idea to start with getting my body in shape. Starting with what I put in it.

I'm going to try to (very slowly) phase meat out of my diet. Starting with anything that leaves bones on my plate*. Next will be red meat.

The problem being that when you take something out of your diet, it's got to be replaced with something to maintain the proper nutritional balance**, so I've got to add things that will replace the protein and iron.

Which can be done with beans and fish and stuff. Or so I've heard.

But I don't really know how to cook fish, or what to do with beans***. I've found that a lot of vegetarian food is kind of bland and grainy... which isn't too appealing.

Another reason I want to do this is to get my girls on the right track, healthwise, before (eventually) sending them out to fend for themselves. If they won't even try it because it looks/smells/feels gross it's just not going to work out. Also? I'd like to be able to do this without making myself separate meals all the time.

I will probably never be a proper vegetarian; I'm far too fond of bacon for that. But I'm certainly willing to give it a try.

Does anyone out there have any (easy) vegetarian recipes? That taste good?

*The bones remind me of the animals, which kind of grosses me out, so... easy.**Don't I sound like I know what I'm talking about?***Except put them in cookies. But that seems counterproductive.

3 comments:

Hey lady - I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian (meaning I eat dairy & eggs, but nothing with a face). If you're going to eat fish, you're technically a pescatarian.An easy way to start is stir-fries with lots of veggies and marinated tofu in place of meat. I also make a mean veggie chili or spaghetti & tomato sauce.A lot of cultures have lots of veggie options.I also have some cookbooks you can borrow if you like. :)

I'm going to have to do some research on the whole thing... I have no idea what I'm doing so it's going to have to be a slow process. Who knows? I might stop at pescatarian. Or lacto-ovo vegetarian, who every once in a while eats a piece of bacon or some shrimp because she can't help it. That's still good, right? :\

Yup, still good (so long as you're not living on french fries & ketchup) :)I've got a veggie slow-cooker book, a 'step-by-step' for new veggies, a British book that's huge with 1000 recipes (some of it's really good) and a Company's Coming series "Vegetables" that's mostly side dishes, but not entirely. Shoot me an email or a FB if you want to look at any of them and we can meet up sometime :)

This is Me:

I am a stay at home mum, a writer, and an artist. I've got three amazing little girls. Beege is 11, Keebee is 9, and Bean joined us in February 2016. They keep me on my toes and don't give me time for much else. They call me Mummy, but most people call me Jessica. Oh, Husband is around here somewhere too. (He's pretty awesome.)